Simon Cowell submits plans for enormous ‘get together barn’ that’s the measurement of a brand new construct home to entertain A-list neighbours and household at his £8million Cotswolds farmhouse
Simon Cowell is bidding to extend his £8million Cotswolds farmhouse with a massive new ‘party barn’ for entertaining his A-list friends and family.
Cowell is joining the likes of neighbours Kate Moss, Princess Beatrice and others by planning a new addition to his mansion in the fashionable rural enclave.
The new extension is described as ‘minor in scale’ by Cowell’s building agents though it covers 793sq ft, roughly the size of an average new build house in the UK.
Music mogul Simon, 65, moved to west Oxfordshire more than a year ago after buying an estate with fiancee Lauren Silverman and their two sons following a spate of break-ins at their now-sold £45million former home in Holland Park, west London.
Their stunning new eight-acre country estate is perched grandly on a hilltop overlooking a picture-perfect village frequented by celebrities and royals alike.
The grounds already feature a wild swimming pond and an indoor pool, but the new plans suggest Cowell is keen to have a new large dedicated socialising space.
It would also double as a games room for the couple’s boys Eric, 10, and 18-year-old Adam who is Lauren’s child from a previous relationship, and for them to have friends over too.
The new extension is planned for Cowell’s home in the Cotswolds where last year a community of moles was discovered on the site.
Simon Cowell – pictured here in an Instagram photo he shared alongside his fiancee Lauren Silverman and their sons Eric, 10, and Adam, 18 – is bidding to build a new extension
Cowell filmed himself outside his Cotswolds home last October, singing happy birthday to himself in a video which he shared on Instagram
Pictures taken during the last mole-burrowing season in March last year showed signs of infestations causing a maze of tunnels and molehills covering large tracts of the eight acres of gardens.
However, Cowell will be hoping this does not cause an issue – and his building agents have now completed a ‘self-assessment’ form in which they were asked to flag up any possible effects regarding local biodiversity.
They indicated there were no mammal burrows within 100m of the mooted new extension wing.
On the self-assessment form, it is stated: ‘The following habitats may be indicative of a Local Wildlife Site, Priority Habitat or other important feature within or adjacent to the application site and may be of importance to Protected and Notable species.’
Answering the question, ‘Are any of the following present on or within 100m of the application site?’, under the category ‘mammal burrows’ the agents stated ‘N’ for no.
Cowell is now an established fixture in the Cotswolds, where scores of celebrities have moved in recent years including the Beckhams, Jeremy Clarkson, Princess Beatrice, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia De Rossi.
Celebrity members’ clubs have also popped up such as Soho Farmhouse and also The Club wellness and spa venue owned by the Bamford family of JCB fame.
Cowell has been seen out with young Eric buying ice creams at local shops and at a local children’s adventure park.
A source said of his application for a new extension: ‘All the self-respecting celebrities in the Cotswolds have a party barn nowadays – Kate Moss and Princess Beatrice had them built fairly recently.
‘For others it’s just a case of redesigning the interiors and renovating the exteriors of barns and outbuilding which already exist.
‘A lot of socialising happens at home in the Cotswolds – there aren’t celebrity clubs and restaurants dotted all over the place like in London.
‘Simon’s home is large already but what is missing was a dedicated socialising space to host parties which will also double as very large games room for the kids to have their friends over.’
A firm of chartered building planners working for Cowell have just applied to West Oxfordshire District Council to have the large new single-storey extension built to the west of the already large Grade II listed property – to form what they describe as ‘a multifunctional family room space’.
A planning, design and heritage statement by JPPC chartered town planners of Oxford, for Cowell’s builders Midland Building Services, sets out why such a development should be ‘considered acceptable’.
They say that the house is not within the protected Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty but just outside the boundary of it.
And they describe it as originally being scattering of a small early 19th-century house and associated farm buldings which were converted and linked together to form one large dwelling more recently.
Building agents have told planners there are now no mammal burrows within 100m of the site
The Cotswolds is home to a number of A-listers, including David and Victoria Beckham – the pair have shared glimpses from their rural surroundings on social media
The statement also outlines how other buildings were added including a swimming pool block and swimming pond, and how there are only ‘limited public views’ of the estate from public rights of way in the locality.
It is also completely screened from a nearby public road by mature trees, they added.
The extension, says the proposal, represents a 16 per cent increase in floor space of the entire house, which is currently 4,962sq ft in size.
The proposed games room is therefore 793 sq ft in size – or about the average size of a newbuild house in the UK which is around 800sq ft.
Cowell’s agents say the plan is sensitively designed, adding: The extension would not cause harm to the significance of the listed building.
‘The significance of the heritage asset derives from its strong linear form and its use of traditional materials.
‘The design and form of the extension would respect this and would appear subservient to the existing dwelling.’
The statement adds: ‘The layout of the proposed extension seeks to reinforce the agrarian character of the buildings and has been designed to follow the proportions and linear form of the group.
SImon Cowell, pictured with fiancee Lauren Silverman at the Shooting Star Ball in London in November 2021, moved to the Cotswolds from Holland Park in west London
‘The flat roofed linking extension has been employed successfully in two other locations around the group to link barns and in doing so retain the character of the farmyard and so the proposal to repeat that feature will be wholly in keeping.’
It concludes: ‘The proposals are well designed and have been carefully sited and sensitively designed to ensure that there would be no harm caused to the listed building.
‘The extension is minor in scale and would not be prominent in any wider landscape view.
‘The proposals would not impact on any neighbours.
‘There would be no adverse impact on trees or wildlife in the vicinity of the proposed building.
Cowell, who is worth an estimated £385million, moved into the house with his family a year ago.
The house, which was once four different properties later fused together to form a much larger one, features a sweeping garden where Cowell recently shot a Instagram video post about one of his record label stars.
The property features five bedrooms and is a colossal 4,962sq ft in size.
Since moving to Oxfordshire, SImon Cowell has been seen out and about with son Eric – they are pictured here with Eric’s mother and Simon’s fiancee Lauren Silverman in September 2023
It also has a swimming pool outside and a natural swimming pond – similar to one the Beckhams had put in the garden of their Cotswolds property.
Cowell sold his family’s extensive Holland Park home in west London after a string of security issues.
Despite spending £500,000 on security to safeguard the home, Cowell was subject to repeat intrusions while living in Holland Park.
In 2023, it was alleged that a criminal gang had even sold the exact lock to his front door.
Back in 2015, thieves broke into the property in the early hours of the morning and stole jewellery worth up to £1million and two passports from an open safe.
Simon and Lauren were asleep in their beds as was their son Eric, who was a baby at the time.
X Factor star Cowell later said of the incident: ‘One hundred per cent I’d like to meet the guy.
‘If we found him I’d want to have a conversation with him. I don’t want to say too much right now because I am angry.
Simon Cowell officially bid farewell to London after leaving the capital ‘because he no longer feels safe’, selling his £45million home in Holland Park (pictured)
‘As a dad you have to realise the psychological damage it does having someone you don’t know in your home 3ft away from your little boy.’
Cowell also said he was disappointed that his three dogs did not raise any alarms when the invasion happened, adding: ‘They didn’t make a sound. They’re usually always barking but they chose not to at that time. Now I have dogs that bark.’
Simon also experienced a scary encounter at his Holland Park residence in 2012, when a woman wielding a brick broke into the property while the TV personality was at home watching television.
MailOnline contacted Simon Cowell’s representatives. There was no comment.
